RMS Lancastria | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit The ship was launched in 1920 as Tyrrhenia by William Beardmore and Company of Glasgow on the River Clyde for Anchor Line, a subsidiary of Cunard. She was the sister ship of RMS Cameronia that Beardmore's had built for the same customer the previous year. Tyrrhenia was 16,243 gross register tons, 578-foot (176 m) long and could carry 2,200 passengers in three classes . She made her maiden voyage, Glasgow – Quebec City – Montreal, on 19 June 1922. [4] In 1924 she was refitted for just two classes and renamed Lancastria, after passengers complained that they could not properly pronounce Tyrrhenia. She sailed scheduled routes between Liverpool and New York until 1932, and was then used as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. [5] On 10 October 1932, Lancastria rescued the crew of the Belgian cargo ship Scheldestad which had been abandoned in a sinking condition in the Bay of Biscay.

[6] In 1934, the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland chartered the Lancastria for a pilgrimage to Rome. [5] With the outbreak of the Second World War, she carried cargo before being requisitioned in April 1940 as a troopship , becoming the HMT Lancastria. She was first used to assist in the evacuation of troops from Norway. The sinking and its aftermath Edit She was sunk off the French port of St. Nazaire while taking part in Operation Ariel , the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation. After a short overhaul, she left Liverpool on 14 June under Captain Rudolph Sharp (born 27 October 1885) and arrived in the mouth of the Loire estuary on 16 June. She anchored 11 miles (18 km) south-west of St. Nazaire.

By the mid-afternoon of 17 June, she had embarked an unknown number (estimates range from 4,000 up to 9,000 [3] ), of civilian refugees (including embassy staff, employees of Fairey Aviation of Belgium), line-of-communication troops (such as Pioneer and RASC soldiers) and RAF personnel. The ship's official capacity was 2,200 including the 375 man crew. [7] Captain Sharp had been instructed by the Royal Navy to "load as many men as possible without regard to the limits set down under international law". [8] At 1350 hrs, during an air-raid, the nearby Oronsay a 20,000-ton Orient liner , was hit on the bridge by a German bomb. Lancastria was free to depart and the captain of the British destroyer HMS Havelock advised her to do so, but without a destroyer escort against possible submarine attack, Sharp decided to wait. [7] A fresh air raid began before 4 p.m. Lancastria was bombed at 1548 hrs by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft from II.

Gruppe/ Kampfgeschwader 30 . Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard then to port; she rolled over and sank within twenty minutes. Over 1,400 tons of fuel oil leaked into the sea and was set partially on fire, possibly by strafing. Many drowned, were choked by the oil or were shot by the strafing German aircraft. Survivors were taken aboard other evacuation vessels, the trawler Cambridgeshire rescuing 900. [7] There were 2,477 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. [3] Many families of the dead knew only that they died with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF); the death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the BEF in France. [3] She sank around 5 nmi (9.3 km) south of Chémoulin Point in the Charpentier roads, around 9 nmi (17 km) from St. Nazaire. The Lancastria Association lists 1,738 deaths.

[9] The immense loss of life was such that the British government suppressed news of the disaster through the D-Notice system, but the story was broken in the United States by The New York Times and in Britain by The Scotsman on 26 July, more than five weeks after the incident. Other British newspapers then covered the story, including the Daily Herald (also on 26 July), which carried the story on its front page, and Sunday Express on 4 August; the latter included a photograph of the capsized ship with its upturned hull lined with men under the headline "Last Moments of the Greatest Sea Tragedy of All Time", but the full story of the Lancastria never came out. [3] Due to the government-ordered cover-up, survivors and the crews of the ships that had gone to the aid of Lancastria did not discuss the disaster at the time due to the fear of court martial . The British Government has refused to make the site a war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 although documents obtained under Freedom of information legislation (FOIA) show that it could be done. Early in the 21st century the French Government placed an exclusion zone around the wreck site.

In July 2007 another request for documents held by the Ministry of Defence related to the sinking was rejected by the British Government. The Lancastria Association of Scotland made a further request in 2009. They were told that release under the FOIA would not be given because of the following exemptions: [10] Section 36; prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs. Section 40(2); contains personal information. Section 40(3); Release would contravene section 10 of the Data Protection Act 1998 : "processing likely to cause damage or distress". Section 41; supplied in confidence. Section 44; Exempt from disclosure under the Human Rights Act 1998 . Rudolph Sharp survived the sinking and went on to command the RMS Laconia , losing his life on 12 September 1942 when that ship was torpedoed and sunk off West Africa. Remembrance Edit St Nazaire: the HMT Lancastria Memorial on the left and the Operation Chariot Memorial on the right.

All service personnel killed during the Second World War are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and where known that they lost their lives on the Lancastria. 1,816 burials are recorded, over 400 of them in France [11] After the war the Lancastria Survivors Association was founded by Major Peter Petit, but this lapsed on his death in 1969. It reformed in 1981 as The HMT Lancastria Association and continues the tradition of a parade and remembrance service at the Church of St Katherine Cree in the City of London, where there is a memorial stained glass window. [12] In 2010 the HMT Lancastria Association was wound up.[ citation needed ] The Lancastria Association of Scotland was formed in 2005 [13] and holds its annual service at St George’s West Church in Edinburgh.

[14] A memorial on the sea-front at St Nazaire was unveiled on 17 June 1988, "in proud memory of more than 4,000 who died and in commemoration of the people of Saint Nazaire and surrounding districts who saved many lives, tended wounded and gave a Christian burial to victims". [15] Lancastria is represented at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire by a Sessile oak tree and a plaque. [16] The Lancastria Association of Scotland began a campaign in 2005 to secure greater recognition for the loss of life aboard Lancastria and the acknowledgment of the endurance of survivors that day. It petitioned Downing Street to have the wreck site designated an official maritime war grave. The British Government refused to do so as it was within French territorial waters and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the Act. [17] The campaign received support from MPs, Lords, MEPs and MSPs from all parties but the MoD claimed that such a move would be "purely symbolic" and have no effect.

In 2006, 14 additional wrecks sunk at the Battle of Jutland were designated war graves; the Lancastria was again omitted. In 2007 the Association began a second petition, this time to the Scottish Parliament , calling for a special commemorative medal to be commissioned and awarded to all those who were aboard the ship that day. Campaigners believe this would represent, at last, formal recognition of what still remains a "forgotten tragedy".[ citation needed ] In February 2008 the Scottish Government confirmed it would present the medal to all those who were aboard the Lancastria that day. The medal is in recognition of the endurance of survivors and the ultimate sacrifice of the victims.[ citation needed ] The Lancastria Association of Scotland is also fundraising to establish a major memorial to the victims of the Lancastria which to erected on the site where the ship was built in Clydebank. In October 2010 the local Council approved a planning application to have the memorial erected. In June 2010 to mark the 70th anniversary of the sinking, special ceremonies and services of remembrance were held in Edinburgh and St. Nazaire.

Official recognition Edit On 12 June 2008, at a ceremony at the Scottish Parliament, First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond presented the first batch of medals to survivors and relatives of victims and survivors the HMT Lancastria Commemorative Medal which represents "official Scottish Government recognition" of the Lancastria disaster. 150 survivors and relatives gathered from across the UK and Ireland for this historic event. The medal was designed by Mark Hirst , grandson of Lancastria survivor Walter Hirst. The inscription on the rear of the medal reads: "In recognition of the ultimate sacrifice of the 4000 victims of Britain's worst ever maritime disaster and the endurance of survivors - We will remember them". The front of the medal depicts the Lancastria with the text "HMT Lancastria – 17th June 1940". The medal ribbon has a grey background with a red and black central stripe, representative of the ship's wartime and merchant marine colours. Hundreds of medals have been issued to survivors and relatives across the world. According to official guidance issued by the Scottish Government, medal recipients are permitted to wear the medal in public along with their other campaign medals.

The MoD continues to refuse to officially commemorate the victims of the Lancastria or the survivors who endured that day. The medal is subject to formal application and open to all survivors who were aboard the Lancastria on 17 June 1940. Relatives of victims are also eligible to claim for the medal, so long as they can provide supporting evidence that their relative was aboard the ship. An estimated 400 Scots were amongst the 4,000 killed when the Lancastria was attacked and sunk. The Scottish Government decided to proceed in light of the "unique scale" of the tragedy and because successive British Governments refused to commemorate the disaster. The Lancastria Association of Scotland is also working to have a significant lasting memorial erected to the victims at Clydebank, Glasgow - where the vessel was built. Scottish Ministers have provisionally said they will back the proposals. In 2005 and 2007 the Association held a special exhibition at the Scottish Parliament to highlight the loss. MSPs also signed a special hand bound book of remembrance.

The Association maintains the largest online archive of Lancastria material on the internet [18] The website received over 250,000 hits in 2007. [19] The Association also organizes the largest memorial service for the victims in the UK. The service, which is attended by survivors and relatives of both victims and survivors together with representatives of the French and Scottish Governments and a number of veterans organisations and is held on the Saturday closest to the anniversary of 17 June each year at St. George's West Church, Edinburgh. The Lancastria Association of Scotland has members throughout the UK, France and the rest of Europe as well as members in North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. In December 2007, following a debate in the Scottish Parliament , the Scottish Government said it had held talks with the British Government to try and persuade them to introduce a commemorative medal as a symbol of official recognition and acknowledgment for all those who had been aboard Lancastria. The MoD rejected that proposal in January 2008 and said they had no plans to commemorate the disaster.

The Lancastria Association of Scotland has erected a memorial to the victims on the site where the ship was built, the former Dalmuir shipyard on the Clyde, now the grounds of the Golden Jubilee Hospital. [20] As the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking took place in 2012, fresh calls were made for official recognition by the UK Government of Britain's worst ever maritime disaster, the loss of the Lancastria. [21] In September 2013 a plaque was unveiled at Liverpool's Pier Head by Lord Mayor Gary Millar commemorating the loss of the ship. [22] [23] References in popular culture Edit The Canadian rock band, The Tragically Hip, pays tribute and describes the sinking in the song "Nautical Disaster" in its Day for Night album released in 1994. [24] The French Breton folk-rock group Tri Yann has a song about the disaster called "Lancastria" on its Abysses album. The London-based band Gypsy Moth produced the song "To Those Lost At Sea" about the Lancastria.

Author David LeRoy features the sinking in the book The Siren of Paris (published 2012), through the experiences of a character named Marc Tolbert who leaves Paris with other refugees and boards the ship. He is rescued by Joan Rodes and later returns to Paris but is haunted by the ghost of the ship, specifically two orphans from Belgium who died in the sinking, and his other friends who perished with the sinking. See also Lancastria - Robert E. Hill Robert E. Hill Lancastria Note: I’ve added the account of Laurence Wakefield, who was in the Royal Engineers like my father, and on board the Lancastria too, after his son in law David Joy read this account and sent me his father in law’s war memoirs. I’ve also added the Wikipedia entry for RMS Lancastria. Robert E. Hill We seemed to take a long time to reach Angers. Some officers and other ranks went off to reconnoitre sites for landing strips but I can’t recall much was accomplished. We eventually reached Nantes where we backed up against thousands of others, Air Force personnel as well as Army.

After two or three nights bivouacking outside the town we destroyed the G.1098 stores sabotaged any unnecessary machinery and marched in convoy to the port of St. Nazaire. We arrived on the 17th June at ten o’clock, having marched seven miles many of us in new boots taken from the G.1098 before it went up in smoke. We were tired, grumbling yet knowing nothing of the heroics that had been happening at Dunkirk a month before. At eleven o’clock we went aboard the Cunard’s Lancastria , grousing and grumbling at being among the last to board. We were assigned places on “A” deck aft. RMS Lancastria, sunk on 17th June 1940 At four o’clock in the afternoon several Stukas flew over. One dropped his bombs and missed by fifty yards, we cheered, and the gunners began to bang away with their ineffective popguns. Another Stuka flew in from the sun on portside. It zoomed low over the ship. We ducked down automatically, a confused chatter of guns a great bang and a smell of cordite.

We straightened up and began to yell, “GOT the BASTARD!!” But he had got us. Amidships. Straight down the main staircase. No chance at all for those down there. Within several minutes the Lancastria began to tilt to starboard. We were wearing life belts, or had lifebelts. I wore mine. Shouts of “OVER THE SIDE”!!! “EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF”!!! Large rafts were heaved over the side, I helped and waited until most had gone over, anyone in the water with one of them thrown on top would have no chance. A rope ladder was now over the side I got on that and went down as fast as I could boots and feet banging on my head, and one time trapping my hand. By this time the ship was at a terribly steep angle. It is said one sees ones life flash in front of one like a movie. Not so. I was too busy working out what to do and where to go.About two o’clock, very hungry we went below and had a jolly good lunch of bangers and mash and hot tea, all the better enjoying silver service by uniformed waiters.

Up on top again out in the warm sun, I took off my boots, which were torturing my feet and popped on my ‘plimsolls’. I rested on my kit bag we had been allowed to bring with us. Teddy Perfect said, “Why the hell don’t we get cracking and weigh anchor we’re a sitting duck waiting here”. Several agreed but each seemed lost in his own thoughts to develop more conversation. Time dragged on. It had been obvious the last few days that we were escaping out of France. We had no news of any kind – just rumours. One of the French troops guarding St. Nazaire had spat at the feet of one of our officers when he wished them goodbye and good luck. With hind sight not a sensible thing to do. By now the sea was full of swimming, paddling, struggling men. I pushed out for a life raft some yards away that was moving away from me faster than I could paddle. I was not a good swimmer. I had the support of the buoyant life jacket yet I did not seem to be able to reach the raft. The ship was towering above me.

Spotting a raft surrounded with bobbing heads that seemed to be nearer I struck out for that and eventually grabbed a loop of rope. I was dragged along, next I was paddling with my right hand, then almost pushed down under the raft as it turned in the water. This went on for a very long time. Temporarily safe I began to think of my family and friends. By now we were sufficiently away from the ship to take stock. The Lancastria had turned over completely with her bottom above the water. Men were scrambling about on her upturned hull. It was uncanny. Would she go down completely or was enough air trapped inside to keep her like that to save the men before they were sucked down. Oil was everywhere. To get far away from the ship to land was everyone’s goal. I was getting tired. A tiny rowing boat painted yellow slid alongside the raft taking people off. I would not let go until I was sure I was ready to get into the boat. In the end I was helped into it by someone grabbing the seat of my trousers as I grabbed the side and missed through sheer exhaustion.

War – the final moments of the Lancastria The rowboat put us on to a French trawler; I stripped off my jacket to get dry. A frigate, HMS Havelock , hailed the trawler. As we scrambled up nets to get aboard I lost my jacket. A sailor had taken it from me indicating he would throw it up after me. He did, I missed catching it as the swell was so great the stern end of the trawler dipped down too much as he swung it up to the level of the Havelock deck. It missed by three feet and sank between the screws of both ships. Gone forever were my papers except for a photograph that was in my shirt pocket tucked behind a metal mirror. Someone propelled me to the petty officers wardroom. We were fed hot tea and biscuits. We were well out at sea sailing for England when the ship’s ‘tannoy’ broadcast a message that the French Army had given up and Petain had signed the Vichy Agreement. We had little to say. It seemed we had run away. The relief of being alive over rode the gloom and sense of shame. It was all very daunting. We drew into Devenport.

As we tied alongside some well wishers on the dock had little sense. They threw tins of ‘bully’ and other food up to the deck with such vigour we were under a bombardment for a few minutes. One poor fellow having escaped unharmed had his head cut open with a tin of bully. Whilst on the Havelock I had taken off my sodden trousers, someone had taken them away to dry and I couldn’t get them back. I was given a ship’s blanket that I wrapped round me to go ashore. Going down the gangplank I trod on the trailing blanket, tripped and was grabbed by two Wren nurses at the bottom of the gangway. They were going to whip me away in an old world war one, canvas tilted, ambulance. The more I resisted the more convinced they seemed I was a ‘shock” case. I got away and followed the rest to the barrack block close at hand. Whilst resting for a couple of days we received an issue of fresh uniform and basic gear. After we had been sorted out and our unit or regiment informed, I and a few others of the unit who fetched up at Davenport were detailed to report to Leeds.

I telephoned my parents who were delighted. No leave was forthcoming. We were told that would be sorted once we reported to our unit. Leeds Town Hall a magnificent building. We bedded everywhere. I found a space on the stage near the organ console. Joy and sadness abound -ed as members of C. R. E. No.2 found each other. We learned nine personnel had been lost. One was dear old Captain Dennison. The staff sergeant had gone. Another chap we all missed was ‘Mate’ a driver in H.Q. He had been friendly with all officers, NCOs, and the O. Rs. He was an incorrigible wag. At Nantes he had found some pornographic drawings, exquisitely drafted and beautifully coloured. They were works of art, e’en if very naughty. They were shown to all who wished to see and he had tucked them in his jacket swearing he would give them up to no one. Poor old ‘Matey’ with his pictures at the bottom of the sea. Teddy Perfect who I had last seen going down a rope over the side was his cheerful jolly self other than having both hands bandaged. He had burnt the skin off sliding down the rope.

We shared a posh billet. Our new headquarters were in a large house in Allerton Park. We were billeted in houses nearby. The excitement of going on ‘survivor’ leave was too much. Everyone wanted to know details of the road back from France. My story of the escape after Dunkirk of which people knew little seemed dramatic. The story of the Lancastria seemed a bit over the top. I stopped talking about it other than saying we came out down the Loire valley. “Oh, weren’t you at Dunkirk?” they asked, and lost interest when I said I came out of France at St. Nazaire. The disaster, the biggest loss of life at sea ever, almost 3,000 were lost. Churchill who thought it would be bad for morale suppressed news of the event. It was published seven years later. Laurence E. Wakefield Extract from the memoirs of the late Laurence Wakefield by permission of his daughter, Patricia Joy 1939 March Joined Territorial Army in Liverpool. Royal Engineers – army trade ‘Surveyor’. Training 3 evenings a week and some weekends. Living and working at Formby.

Journey to TA in Liverpool (South) included train full length of overhead railway with view of the ships using the Port. August Went to Annual camp (2 weeks) at Halton near Lancaster on River Lune. Bridging camp – pontoons – folding boats – small box girder bridges. At end of 2 weeks kept at Halton – war was imminent. Embodied into Regular Army “Took the King’s Shilling”. September War declared. Returned to Liverpool from Halton. Transferred to similar unit at St Helens. October Sent to France with British Expeditionary Force. Various locations in France then settled on outskirts of Lille. Worked as a draughtsman on Detailing or Scheduling Steel Reinforcement for construction of strong points on the extension of the Maginot Line. 1940 Applied for a commission. Returned to England – went to York for interview re commission – was accepted BUT on account of my age (22) was told it would be Infantry commission NOT Royal Engineers. This I did not want so returned to France and rejoined my unit. Offered chance to transfer to another part of Royal Engineers “Establishment for Engineer Services” which I accepted.

Went on a course for a month in Brittany – very pleasant during spring – passed out as Engineer Draughtsman (L/Cpl) with indication that I could progress to Military Foreman of Works (S/Sgt). Posted to C.R.E (South) Advanced Air Striking Force at Rheims. Went by train to Paris and on from Gare de L’Est by ordinary passenger train to Rheims. That was when it all started – there had not really been an active war before that. The train and others on the track were bombed and strafed. When raids finished the British Army other ranks from the train – 12 of us – all individual like myself travelling alone (no units) got together and, as the railway obviously could not function, decided to set out walking. We walked in a southerly direction for a long way and when it was dark we came to a farm which had been abandoned with doors left open – remains of the fire still burning in the grate – cows not milked – the occupants had obviously fled on this first day of the “real war”. We made a meal and went to bed for the night taking it in turns to keep watch and by morning 6 of the group had gone on.

We – the remaining 6 continued walking – 2 went off in another direction, and, after a while, we remaining 4 came up to a railway line and trains were running on that line. We followed it and came to a village where there was a large crowd all waiting to evacuate the area. Trains came to the station and reversed back to wards Paris. When the French police saw the 4 of us in uniform they were very agitated (they drew their revolvers and we were forced into an air raid shelter alongside the station. A German plane was circling around overhead watching the proceedings. The crowd got much less as the people got away on the train until there were not many left and we thought the train then at the platform would be the last one, so we had to do something to get on that train. There was a van on the train with a sliding door not fully closed, so, as the train started up slowly, we dashed out of the shelter – shouting – banging our tin hats and generally causing a commotion which took the police by surprise. We pulled the sliding door open and, as the train got going, we jumped into the van.

The train got up a good speed and the German planes attacked it, but this time we were lucky and the bombs missed and the train rocked alarmingly, but stayed on the track and we got back safely to Paris where we were taken in for questioning. We were suspect as no British troops had been where we came from. After a few days in Paris, the unit I was trying to join was located at Troyes which was south of the push the Germans were making. I got to Troyes from Paris with no further trouble. The retreat from Dunkirk was in progress but we were south of it and read about it each morning in the papers. After a short time in Troyes, we moved suddenly to a small village, Aulnay-La-Riviere, south of Paris near to Pithiviers and there we saw something of the evacuation of Paris in face of the German advance. The population came through the village in their thousands – first in cars, buses, lorries etc, then on cycles, pushing prams, handcarts, wheelbarrows – anything that would take some of their possessions – people on foot in all sorts of conditions. Again we moved on by road – just a few vehicles – we were a small H.Q. unit.

We went right across France generally following the Loire until we got to Nantes where we stayed for a couple of days – we were employed destroying documents etc. from British H.Q. at Nantes and then we moved on to an unfinished airfield between Nantes and St Nazaire. There were thousands of British troops there in the open subject to air raids. During the night, we walked on into St Nazaire and into the large transit sheds on the Docks. Our vehicles along with many others were put into a large square formation and were destroyed by fire. In the morning 2 British destroyers came into the dock and and took off the troops. We went on one of them and thought we were going home – little did we know that most of us were on our last journey and were, in fact, “Going Home”. When we were well out of St. Nazaire (10 miles, I believe) we came to 2 large liners – the one I went to I recognised from the Liverpool Docks – it was a Cunarder “Lancastria”, the other was the Orient line “Oronsay”.

When we boarded the Lancastria, we were sent down to the dining room where we had the best meal for weeks served by Cunard stewards. We were then sent back up to make way for the next sitting. With a few of our unit I went to the Shelter Deck (aft) on the starboard side. The ship was absolutely packed with troops plus a few civilians. During the late afternoon we were attacked by German planes – firstly the Oronsay was hit and damaged but remained afloat, then we were attacked. The bombs scored a direct hit and the ship began to sink. At first it seemed to be going on the starboard side, when everyone moved across she righted for a few minutes and then started to go over on the port side. No life belts had been issued and I decided the only thing to do was to strip off and go in the water and try my luck by swimming. So I went over the side – part way down a rope ladder and jumped into the sea. I was not a good swimmer, but I had to do my best.

There were hundreds of us swimming for our lives and the German planes were dropping bombs amongst us, strafing us, and they set fire to the oil which escaped from the sinking ship. I don’t know for how long I swam, but I was about all in when I suddenly came near to an open boat – a lifeboat from another ship. I managed to get up to it and hung on to the lifeline along the boat and, when I had recovered somewhat, I was pulled into the boat. I remember that my reaction was that I could not stop talking! I took over an oar and so helped to get the boat up to a British armed trawler, the “Cambridgeshire”. The trawler was packed with survivors – some 600 I believe – on a trawler! The plan was to go back into St. Nazaire but the tide had gone out and the vessel would have grounded, so we were taken to the “John Holt” – a Birkenhead cargo ship. We were put in the hold and forbidden to show our faces. The hatches were put on and our luck was really in – we sailed round the occupied coast of Brittany and got to Plymouth without incident.

We were taken to a hall of some sorts wrapped in blankets, which were thrown from the quay on to the ship. That blanket was all I possessed and it wasn’t really mine. The Lancastria sank in 20 minutes after the bombs hit her. The casualties were enormous – just over 2,000 survived – there is no accurate count of the number that perished as it was not known how many were on board, but it is thought that at least 4,000 lost their lives. As she went down, singing could be heard across the water from those about to perish, “Rollout the barrel” and “There’ll always be an England”. Our unit lost several members, but, because we were on the open deck, we were luckier than those who were below. They stood no chance. I owe my life to the fact that I could swim – albeit poorly, and the open boat which suddenly appeared – in answer to my prayers I’ll always believe. The Lancastria sank on 17th June 1940 – a fortnight after the end of the Dunkirk evacuation. It was probably the worst maritime disaster in British history in terms of lives lost.

We were given basic clothing etc at Plymouth – the first thing the Army gave me was a razor! We went by train to Leeds, spent the first night on the floor under the Town Hall and next day were taken to compulsory billets in the area – “How many bed spaces have you got, Missus? Right – next 3 in here!”. I went to a Jewish family in Chapeltown who treated me very well. The unit reformed at Leeds. I was out-stationed at Lincoln and Sybil and I were married at Crewe Green on November 9th 1940 – I went back to Leeds. Wikipedia function mfTempOpenSection(id){var block=document.getElementById("mf-section-"+id);block.className+=" open-block";block.previousSibling.className+=" open-block";} "Lancastria" redirects here. For other uses, see Lancastria (disambiguation) . RMS Lancastria (later HMT Lancastria) [Note 1] was a British Cunard liner commandeered by the UK Government during World War II. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Ariel .

Having received an emergency order to evacuate British nationals and troops in excess of its capacity of 1,300 passengers, [4] modern estimates range between 3,000 and 5,800 fatalities—the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history. [2] [5] The sinking of HMT Lancastria claimed more lives than the combined losses of the RMS Titanic (1,517 passengers and crew) and RMS Lusitania (1,198 passengers). Career RMS Lancastria (centre) at Funchal , Madeira , c. 1930. The ship was launched in 1920 as Tyrrhenia by William Beardmore and Company of Glasgow on the River Clyde for Anchor Line, a subsidiary of Cunard . She was the sister ship of RMS Cameronia that Beardmore's had built for the same customer the previous year. [6] Tyrrhenia was 16,243 gross register tons , 578-foot (176 m) long and could carry 2,200 passengers in three classes .

She made her maiden voyage, Glasgow– Quebec City – Montreal , on 19 June 1922. [7] In 1924 she was refitted for two classes and renamed Lancastria, after passengers complained that they could not properly pronounce Tyrrhenia. She sailed scheduled routes between Liverpool and New York until 1932, and was then used as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. [8] On 10 October 1932 Lancastria rescued the crew of the Belgian cargo ship SS Scheldestad, which had been abandoned in a sinking condition in the Bay of Biscay . [9] In 1934 the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland chartered Lancastria for a pilgrimage to Rome. [8] [10] With the outbreak of the Second World War she carried cargo, and was then requisitioned in April 1940 as a troopship , becoming HMT Lancastria. She was first used to assist in the evacuation of troops from Norway . The sinking and its aftermath She was sunk off the French port of St.

Nazaire while taking part in Operation Ariel , the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation . After a short overhaul, she left Liverpool on 14 June under Captain Rudolph Sharp (born 27 October 1885) and arrived in the mouth of the Loire estuary on 16 June. She anchored 11 miles (18 km) south-west of St. Nazaire. By the mid-afternoon of 17 June she had embarked an unknown number (estimates range from 4,000 up to 9,000) [5] of civilian refugees (including embassy staff and employees of Fairey Aviation of Belgium), line-of-communication troops (including Pioneer and RASC soldiers) and RAF personnel. The ship's official capacity was 2,200 including the 375-man crew. [11] Captain Sharp had been instructed by the Royal Navy to "load as many men as possible without regard to the limits set down under international law".

[4] At 13:50, during an air-raid, the nearby Oronsay , a 20,000-ton Orient Liner , was hit on the bridge by a German bomb. Lancastria was free to depart and the captain of the British destroyer HMS Havelock advised her to do so, but without a destroyer escort as defence against possible submarine attack Sharp decided to wait. [11] Lancastria sinking off Saint-Nazaire , France, 17 June 1940. A fresh air raid began before 16:00. Lancastria was bombed at 15:48 by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft from II. Gruppe/ Kampfgeschwader 30 . Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard then to port; she rolled over and sank within twenty minutes. Over 1,400 tons of fuel oil leaked into the sea and was set partially on fire. Many drowned, were choked by the oil, or were shot by strafing German aircraft. Survivors were taken aboard other evacuation vessels, the trawler Cambridgeshire rescuing 900.

[11] There were 2,447 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. [5] Many families of the dead knew only that they died with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF); the death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the BEF in France. [5] She sank around 5 nmi (9.3 km) south of Chémoulin Point in the Charpentier roads, around 9 nmi (17 km) from St. Nazaire. The Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed. [12] In 2005, Fenby wrote that estimates of the death toll vary from fewer than 3,000 to 5,800 people, the largest loss of life in British maritime history. [2] Rudolph Sharp survived the sinking and went on to command the RMS Laconia , losing his life on 12 September 1942 when that ship was torpedoed and sunk off West Africa.

Availability of information The immense loss of life was such that the British government suppressed news of the disaster through the D-Notice system, but the story was broken by the Press Association on 25 July, [13] in the United States by The New York Times and in Britain by The Scotsman on 26 July, more than five weeks after the sinking. Other British newspapers then covered the story, including the Daily Herald (also on 26 July), which carried the story on its front page, and Sunday Express on 4 August; the latter included a photograph of the capsized ship with her upturned hull lined with men under the headline "Last Moments of the Greatest Sea Tragedy of All Time", but the full story of the Lancastria never came out. [5] As part of the government-ordered cover-up, survivors and the crews of the ships that had gone to the aid of Lancastria did not at the time publicly discuss the disaster. In July 2007 another request for documents held by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) related to the sinking was rejected by the British Government. The Lancastria Association of Scotland made a further request in 2009.

They were told that release under the FOIA would not be given because of several exemptions. [14] [Note 2] In the face of continued campaigning by relatives, the MoD stated in 2015 that all known documents had long been released through the National Archives . [15] Status of the wreck The British Government has refused to make the site a war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 although documents obtained under freedom of information legislation (FOIA) show that it could be done.[ citation needed ] Early in the 21st century the French Government placed an exclusion zone around the wreck site. The Lancastria Association of Scotland began a campaign in 2005 to secure greater recognition for the loss of life aboard Lancastria and the acknowledgment of the endurance of survivors that day. It petitioned Downing Street to have the wreck site designated an official maritime war grave. The British Government did not do so as it was within French territorial waters, outside the jurisdiction of the Act. [16] The campaign received support from MPs , Lords , MEPs and MSPs from all parties, but the MoD said that such a move would be "purely symbolic" and have no effect.

In 2006, 14 additional wrecks sunk at the Battle of Jutland were designated as war graves, but the Lancastria was not. The MoD stated in 2015 that "as the French Government has provided an appropriate level of protection to the Lancastria through French law and it is formally considered a military maritime grave by the MoD, we believe that the wreck has the formal status and protection it deserves." [15] Remembrance St Nazaire: the HMT Lancastria Memorial on the left and the Operation Chariot Memorial on the right. All service personnel killed during the Second World War are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , and where known that they lost their lives on the Lancastria. 1,816 burials are recorded, over 400 of them in France. [17] Survivors’ and relatives’ associations After the war, the Lancastria Survivors Association was founded by Major Peter Petit, but this lapsed on his death in 1969.

It reformed in 1981 as The HMT Lancastria Association and continues the tradition of a parade and remembrance service at the Church of St Katherine Cree in the City of London , where there is a memorial stained glass window. [18] The Lancastria Association of Scotland was formed in 2005 and holds its annual service at St George's West Church in Edinburgh. [19] The Lancastria Association of Scotland has members throughout the UK, France and the rest of Europe as well as members in North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. It also organises the largest memorial service for the victims in the UK. The service, which is attended by survivors and relatives of both victims and survivors together with representatives of the French and Scottish Governments and a number of veterans organisations and is held on the Saturday closest to the anniversary of 17 June each year at St. George's West Church, Edinburgh. In 2005 and 2007 the Association held a special exhibition at the Scottish Parliament to highlight the loss. MSPs also signed a special hand-bound book of remembrance. The Association maintains the largest online archive of Lancastria material on the internet.

[19] The website received over 250,000 hits in 2007. [20] In June 2010 to mark the 70th anniversary of the sinking, special ceremonies and services of remembrance were held in Edinburgh and St. Nazaire. As the 100th anniversary of the RMS Titanic sinking took place in 2012, fresh calls were made for "official recognition" of the loss of the Lancastria by the British Government. [21] The day of the 75th anniversary of the loss of Lancastria was marked in the Westminster Parliament on 17 June 2015 at Prime Minister's Questions by the Chancellor of the Exchequer , George Osborne , who was standing in for the Prime Minister .

Osborne said of the sinking; "It was kept secret at the time for reasons of wartime secrecy, but I think it is appropriate today in this House of Commons to remember all those who died, those who survived, and those who mourn them." [22] The Lancastria Commemorative Medal In 2007 the Lancastria Association of Scotland began a petition to the Scottish Parliament , calling for a special commemorative medal to be commissioned and awarded to all those who were aboard the ship that day. In December 2007, following a debate in the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government said it had held talks with the British Government to try and persuade them to introduce a commemorative medal as a symbol of official recognition and acknowledgement for all those who had been aboard Lancastria. In a letter sent to the Scottish Parliament's public petitions committee in December 2007, Des Browne , the Secretary of State for Defence , stated that the event "must never be forgotten" but that there was "no tradition in the United Kingdom to offer medals to commemorate specific incidents like the sinking of the HMT Lancastria".

[23] No campaign medal was ever awarded for the Battle of France , but any serviceman who had spent "a single day, or part thereof" in France or Belgium between 10 May and 19 June 1940 qualified for the 1939-1945 Star . [24] On 12 June 2008, at a ceremony at the Scottish Parliament, First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond presented the first batch of medals to survivors and relatives of victims and survivors; the HMT Lancastria Commemorative Medal, which represented "official Scottish Government recognition" of the Lancastria disaster. [25] 150 survivors and relatives gathered from across the United Kingdom and Ireland for the event. The medal was designed by Mark Hirst , grandson of Lancastria survivor Walter Hirst. [26] The inscription on the rear of the medal reads: "In recognition of the ultimate sacrifice of the 4000 victims of Britain's worst ever maritime disaster and the endurance of survivors – We will remember them".

[25] The front of the medal depicts the Lancastria with the text "HMT Lancastria – 17th June 1940". The medal ribbon has a grey background with a red and black central stripe, representative of the ship's wartime and merchant marine colours. According to official guidance issued by the Scottish Government, medal recipients are permitted to wear the medal in public along with their other campaign medals. The medal is subject to formal application and open to all survivors who were aboard the Lancastria on 17 June 1940. Relatives of victims are also eligible to claim for the medal, so long as they can provide supporting evidence that their relative was aboard the ship. An estimated 400 Scots were amongst the 4,000 killed when Lancastria was attacked and sunk. The Scottish Government decided to proceed in light of the "unique scale" of the tragedy and because survivors "have had to endure a lack of recognition of the events of that June day from a succession of Governments". [27] The closing date for applications for the medal was 15 May 2015, by which time almost 400 had been issued.

[28] Memorials A memorial on the sea-front at St Nazaire was unveiled on 17 June 1988, "in proud memory of more than 4,000 who died and in commemoration of the people of Saint Nazaire and surrounding districts who saved many lives, tended wounded and gave a Christian burial to victims". [19] The missing British military dead from the sinking of the Lancastria (those whose bodies were not recovered or were unable to be identified) are commemorated on a number of Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials (those identified were buried in cemeteries and are marked with Commission headstones). Around 700 missing of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial . The missing dead who served in the Navy are commemorated on the naval memorials at Chatham , Plymouth and Portsmouth , with missing merchant seamen named at the Tower Hill Memorial , and the missing airmen who went down with the ship, listed on the Runnymede Memorial . [29] Lancastria is represented at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire by a Sessile oak tree and a plaque.

[30] St Katharine Cree church in the City of London has a memorial window to Lancastria. It also has a model of the ship in a glass case and the ship's bell is also in the church. [31]

Question: In September 2013, a plaque was unveiled at the Pier Head, Liverpool commemorating the loss of which ship, sunk in June 1940 with the loss of at least 4000 lives?
Answer: RMS Lancastria